Mac 101: ZIP files for easy e-mail
We're all faced with the problem of e-mailing large files. This task can be made simple by using Mac OS X's built-in "Compress" tool. This feature makes it easy to not only compress one file into a ZIP archive, but also multiple files or entire folders. Just select the files you need to ZIP and right-click on one of them. When you select Compress, then in a couple seconds (this will take longer depending on the file size) you will be presented with a nice ZIP archive containing all of your files in it. Just drag the ZIP file into your e-mail and send!
There are alternatives, such as StuffIt Expander Deluxe, but if all you are doing is compressing files, there really is no need to spend money since Mac OS X will zip and un-zip the archive handily.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Paulpro said 7:47PM on 12-17-2007
Pretty sure you mean Stuffit (Standard or Deluxe), available here for a price.
http://www.stuffit.com/mac/standard/
Expander doesn't do anything but expand compressed files.
You were likely thinking of DropStuff, which is also not free.
OS X's built-in archiving works well enough, although it would be nice to get built-in RAR support, with the ability to handle password-protected RARs built-in to the OS.
Reply
Cory Bohon said 7:59PM on 12-17-2007
Thanks Paulpro for letting me know that! I have no idea why I put StuffIt Expander. :-D
mr said 8:06PM on 12-17-2007
RIP Stuffit.
Why even consider still using Stuffit anymore?
Built-in zip compression brings widespread compatibility, and storage is hardly an issue these days, so debate on the potential few percentage points difference in compression algorithms of the various formats is moot.
I say, good-bye, old friend. .SIT is sooooo Classic MacOS.
Reply
Simon Arch said 11:30PM on 12-17-2007
".SIT is sooooo Classic MacOS."
You say that like it's a bad thing! From my very first Mac, a Mac Classic running System 6.0.7 until my iMac DV running 9.2.2 StuffIt was an indispensable tool. But I don't use StuffIt anymore. I own it. I've got it installed, latest version, but I rarely need it. It's helpful on occasion when I run into odd compression formats, but there are things I don't like about it. I don't like how big it is (why doesn't it delete the 30mb Setup Assistant after installation?). I don't like the fact that it's confusing as all get-out to use more than the drop apps. And I really don't like the way it tries to take over all compression and decompression duties after it's first installed.
Still, I'll keep it around a while longer. The system would feel naked without it, if nothing else.
Jeff said 8:10PM on 12-17-2007
Is this any different than Tiger's and Panther's "Create Archive of ..." feature? Does the Tiger/Panther not compress?
Reply
Cory Bohon said 8:14PM on 12-17-2007
It is the same as the "Create Archive of..." feature in Tiger, yes. In Leopard, Apple decided to go with "Compress" -- I guess it causes less confusion for the user than the old name?
Ed said 8:46PM on 12-17-2007
Stuffit is not a viable alternative to anything, except maybe hell. Still not sure about that one though...
Reply
Chris said 8:49PM on 12-17-2007
Congrats for becoming a TUAW blogger - but i'm not really sure that this item is blog-worthy? Its not a new feature - its been around for years. I'm sure its useful to someone ... but it seems a bit out of keeping with what TUAW normally posts.
Reply
BobbyW said 9:15PM on 12-17-2007
People spend a lot of time posting about posts that were meaningless to them. There are plenty of people new to the platform looking for every fact they can find.
It's easy to forget that day when your first Mac was brand new, and you didn't know Command+Down arrow took you down into a folder. Thousands of new Mac users come on board each day - a post to guide them here and there is a good thing. You already knew it - that's great. Just skip over the post.
Jason Sawtelle said 10:07PM on 12-17-2007
It is for 101. Not the most advanced stuff you'll find sure. But I think lacking from the article is the mention of the pains some corporate email systems will inflict upon those who dare send a ZIP file. Then again, maybe email isn't the best way to be sharing files then is it?
Chris R said 10:10PM on 12-17-2007
@BobbyW - thanks for your input. Fair enough, Mac 101 can have its place and I'll just skip over in future ;-)
@Sawtelle - you're right. If I email a ZIP from work, I get all sorts of amusing alert messages. This seems to be beyond the Mac 101 scope tho ;-)
Gary said 9:16PM on 12-17-2007
How can this be done on a MacBook Pro - which has no right click mouse?
Reply
Cory Bohon said 9:19PM on 12-17-2007
To right-click on a Mac notebook, just hold down the control key and click like normal. If you are on a MacBook (or MacBook Pro), you can also place two fingers on the trackpad and click.
Michael Rose said 7:23AM on 12-18-2007
Seems that right-clicking may be worth a 101 of its own... :-)
Ankur said 9:22PM on 12-17-2007
Zip files are all well and good for sharing with Windows users, but generally tar/bzip2 and gzip are much better for UNIX (and therefore Mac) systems. I don't use Finder and much prefer drag and drop, anyway, so I wrote my own compression app. http://lipidity.com/software/zippit/
Reply
Pete said 2:51PM on 12-18-2007
Actually, this is bad for sharing with Windows users because of the .DS_Store files and resource forks that they'll be exposed to.
I prefer to just use CleanArchiver, though there are a number of other alternatives (many free).
derik said 10:03PM on 12-17-2007
I've used the "create archive" feature a few times, but it never seems to make much of a dent in the file size. Is there a way to increase the compression?
Reply
Dmitry Chestnykh said 10:48PM on 12-17-2007
You don't have to compress folders in order to send ZIP files through Mail – just drag-and-drop your folder to a message (or on Mail icon in Dock) and Mail will automatically compress it to foldername.zip when sending.
Reply
Rafe H. said 10:49PM on 12-17-2007
This hint describes how to compress using formats other than ZIP, all within the Finder:
How's that for 101 for ya?
Reply
Rafe H. said 10:50PM on 12-17-2007
hint:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071029071230867
Reply